As I understand it, ALPA reimburses any pilot who does not live in the location at which he is working for the cost of his accommodations. This ranges anywhere from a hotel room at an MEC meeting, to the apartment in ATL in which the MEC Chairman stays when he is in the office, to the apartment in DC in which the ALPA President stays while he is at work.

Some amount of this is considered taxable income by the IRS, although I have no idea how much. That's not the same thing as saying that it's spendable income, any more than the hotel, transportation, and per diem that Delta provides us on a layover or while in training.

 

No spin intended, other than to clarify that taxable compensation in the eyes of the IRS and spendable income are two entirely different things.

Not particularly close, unless you are in one of the highest paying categories at one of the highest paying ALPA carriers. In that event, your spendable income can certainly rival that of the ALPA President's, provided you are willing to be contactable 24/7 and work (fly, in this case) whenever and wherever the GSs take you.

 

Duh. Thanks for that lesson. But I've never questioned that. What I DID say was that The Donald made nearly $1.3m in 2012 (I was off by $22k). That's his TOTAL COMPENSATION. I never claimed it was his salary. You brought that up to muddy the water. And you failed.

Please Alan. Take a seat. Your going to pass out from spinning so much.

More B.S. Alan. If your employer pays for your car, your home, your utilities, your travel, your meals, etc...guess what? You have a HELL of a LOT of spendable income. The line pilot gets no such deal. Try again.

 

Alan. Your ham-handed obfuscation is making you look silly. Index is crushing your spin. Please cease the disingenuous nonsense.

 

That was disappointing to see. But there was never any specific language regarding 9 hours in the contract -- there was only 12 hours of notification and 3 hours prior to report for acknowledgement. I agree that the difference of 9 hours should have given us plenty of leverage, but apparently the MEC and NC didn't see it that way.

Your voicemail issue still confuses me, though. I don't see the difference between where we were last year and where we are now. In both cases, the long call has at least 12 hours from first attempted notification to report for a trip (and now short call, too).

How is it different?

I'm not sure why we did that, either.

 

Now I'm confused. Should I sit down before I pass out from spinning, or should I try again?

I think I'll try again.

As a line pilot, I get transportation, hotel (including utilities), per diem, free passports and visas, etc. Should I consider all of that spendable income?

 

I replied to Index before I read your post. So sorry...

 

Again, it's my understanding that the trade was 5:15 ADG for the new duty day limits. Both go into effect at the same time -- November 1.

They got a usable reserve system back, and we got back what we had before -- the ability for a long call pilot to turn his phone off for any length of time up to 12 hours, so long as he would then be in a position to report 12 hours after he turned the phone off.

The latter is what I see both sides having gotten out of the reserve piece.

 

My question for you is how long did it take you to build such robust bank (2,200 hours)? If we started this right now, are they going to place a lump sum in an account for the over 50 age group pilots? Or, are we starting with 60 hours?

Second point, if we go into bankruptcy again, is there anything to stop the Company from cancelling your 2,200 hour bank? My guess is the judge will sign that little account away in a heartbeat.

Because of this, I think that you are wrong about using your sick leave as short term or long term disability plan. DALPA spent a considerable amount of negotiating capital in the bankruptcy process to protect and secure the D&S plan from corporate raiding.

I just don't think sick leave banks are protected in bankruptcy. Now someone reading this might say, we won't go into bankruptcy, we're making record profits. Where have I heard that one before?

I think the current system is not perfect but it's a lot better than it was previously. I learned something from this discussion. I won't voluntarily bid reserve in April and May. Everyone seems to be calling in sick to use up their 100 hours.

 

Nah. I did it in my head.